Jabari grimaced. He wasn't close with his older brother and Tau couldn't
blame him. Lekan was self-impressed, condescending, and the single best
argument against making firstborns heirs to anything.
"I'm training," Jabari told the Harvester.
"It's news from Palm."
That caught Tau's attention. News from the capital was rare.
"From Palm City?" asked Jabari.
"Yes, nkosi. It's the queen… She… Well, she's dead."
Anya gasped, Zuri covered her mouth, and Jabari looked dumbfounded.
Tau turned to his father but found no comfort there.
"W-who leads the Chosen now?" Jabari asked.
Berko, rail thin but paunchy, with a patchy gray beard, stepped closer.
"Princess Tsiora, the second, will be queen."
"Then, Palm City seeks ratification for her ascension," said Jabari.
Though it hadn't happened since he'd been born, Tau had heard of this.
New queens asked the Petty, Greater, and Royal Nobles to accept their rule.
It was a formality. The Omehia line had ruled since before the time of the
Guardians.
Jabari looked to Tau's father. "Apologies, Aren. I have to go."
"Of course. Goddess guide you and may She also embrace Queen
Ayanna in Her glory."
Jabari marched for the keep, and Anya, eager to hear the gossip, rushed
after him, dragging Zuri with her. Tau didn't even have a chance to say
goodbye.
"She's a child," said Berko.
Aren gave the man a look. "What?"
"Queen Ayanna's granddaughter? She's a child."
"Princess Tsiora is of age," Tau's father said.
"Cancer." Berko hawked and spat on the packed dirt of the fighting
circle. "Hard to believe things like that can kill royalty. First Princess
Tsiora's mother; now her grandmother. The line grows thin and the princess
will need an heir or it'll be the end of the Omehias."
Tau spoke up. "There's her older brother, Prince Xolani, and there's the
younger sister too."
"Brother doesn't count and Princess Esi is… unsettled," Berko told him.
"Add all the raids to the balance and it's not a good time for a child queen."
Berko lowered his voice. "Let's not forget, it's been a long time since our
queens have been gifted." Tau had to lean in to hear the last part. "A bit
strange that the Omehias can no longer call the dragons themselves, neh?"
Tau saw his father stiffen. Berko saw it too. "I'm just saying, is all," he said,
turning to call down the hill to the two Drudge waiting there near a ration
wagon. "One Low Common portion and one full portion for Aren."
"I'm High Common," Tau said, annoyed he had to correct the man.
Berko shrugged. "And one High Common portion!"
One of the Drudge took two sacks from the wagon and tried to run up
the hill. The scrawny man, dressed in little better than rags, couldn't keep
the pace and slowed to a hurried walk before getting to them. Breathing
hard from the brief run, he placed the sacks by Tau's feet and waited to see
if the Harvester needed anything more to be done. He kept his head down
and Tau couldn't blame him. The Drudge would be beaten if he met the
eyes of his betters, and Tau wasn't sure the thin man could survive that.
The Drudge's skin was dark, almost as dark as Tau's, and his head was a
mass of kinked hair. It was forbidden for them to shave their heads like
proper men, and his poor state made it hard for Tau to tell what Lesser caste
he'd originally come from.
"Tau," his father said.
Tau gathered up the sacks, making a show of examining their contents,
but when the High Harvester looked away, he placed two potatoes near the
Drudge. The man's eyes widened at the unexpected offering, and, hand
shaking, he snatched them up, tucking them under the folds of his rags.
"Coming," Tau said to his father.
The man looked half-starved. He needed food. Tau did too, though. He
trained most afternoons and that was hard to do on an empty stomach.
Jabari would have called him softhearted. He'd have said the man's lot
was his own doing. The only Lessers who became Drudge were the ones
who didn't make it into the real military and still refused to join the Ihagu.
Survival rates for Ihagu, the low-level, unskilled fighters who made up
the front lines of every battle, were abysmal. Yet, most would say being a
Drudge was a worse fate than an Ihagu's near certain death. When given the
choice, almost everyone chose to fight. After all, a lucky few were assigned
defensive duty and stationed near the fiefs or cities.
As Tau walked past with the rations, his father put a hand on his
shoulder. "Kindly done," Aren whispered, little escaping his notice. Then,
louder, he said, "Take the food home. I need to see the umbusi. With this
news from Palm, we'll want to add more patrols."
Tau nodded and went to do as he was bid. He made it three strides when
he heard Nkiru, his father's second-in-command, shouting from down the
mountain. The muscular man, along with a full unit of the fief's Ihagu, was
running. He was drenched in sweat, his sword's scabbard slapping at his
thigh. It would have been humorous if not for the look on his face. He was
terrified.
"Raid! Raid!" he yelled, struggling to be heard over the ocean's roar.
"The hedeni are raiding!"